This Is All I Need
by Hayzel-25
Summary: "You can take everything of me... This is all I need." I'm used to being ignored. I'm used to being heartbroken. I'm used to being the one everyone's just stuck with and can't wait to get rid of. I know everyone secretly dislikes me, no matter how many times they try to prove it wrong. I get it- I understand. But then, he came, making me believe that I wasn't alone.
1. Prolouge

Joy's POV

I ran out of the house, ignoring everyone's pleas to have me stay. I ran into the forest, desperate to outrun Jerome, who was literally right behind me.

Damn his long legs.

"Joy!" He yells, flustered and out of breath. "Could you please stop? Or at least, slow down a little?"

I try to stop a laugh from coming out, but fail miserably. My mind suddenly wanders back to the phone call, and the event at the common room.

Tears threaten to fall out of my eyes, driving me to run faster, putting some distance in between Jerome and I.

"JOY!" Jerome yells, catching up to me. "... For the love of Christ!"

He wraps his arms around me, giving the sense of comfort only he could make me feel.

"Joy..." He whispers, burying his face in my hair as I hugged him tightly, tears flowing freely down my face. "Are you okay?"

Unable to form words, I nod my head slightly, hiccuping.

"Oh, please. Don't give me any of that." He looks me in the eye. "It's okay. I'm never going to leave you. I'll be there for you, remember? Through the ups and downs."

My body shakes with unshed violent tears. "My mum's in the ICU. They don't think she's gonna make it..."

He doesn't give me pity, he just holds me tightly as I cry. He strokes my hair, mumbling senseless words, trying to calm me down.

I decide to pull my act together, and I stand up, wiping my tears away.

"Can we just walk around? I really don't want to go to the house right now..." I sniffle.

He gives one of his trademark boyish, heart-melting smiles. "Anything for you."

We walk around the outskirts of the forest, enjoying nature at it's best. Well, until I saw the biggest spider in the world.

I shrieked, and hide behind Jerome. He looks at me like I was crazy, and then smirks.

He grabs a big leaf, tearing it from the branch, making the spider go on it. My eyes go as wide as saucers.

"Don't even dare..." I warn, racking my brain for a probably useless threat that might change his mind.

"I don't know. This spider is just dying for affection and love. Why don't you pet it?" He smirks, placing the leaf in front of my face.

My eyes meet the spider's.

I shriek, grabbing handful of dead multicolored leaves, throwing them at Jerome.

"Hey!" He says, surprised at the leaf on skin contact. He throws some of the leaves back at me.

We end up in a huge leaf throwing fight. The only drawback was that he was so darn tall. Without warning, right as I was about to throw a handful of leaves at him, he scoops me up in his arms, twirling me around.

He stops, putting me back on the ground. He stares into my eyes. "I know you probably don't want to hear this right now, with your mum in the hospital and all, but I think I'm falling for you."

* * *

_Hello! Thank you for taking the time to read my story. Like it? Love it? ...Um... :/ Hate it?_

_So... Yeah... If I decide not to be lazy, I'll have another chapter up in no time! No promises, though, what with the CST's and everything... _

_Thanks again! See you next time! :D_


	2. Jerome

"Time, I've been patient for so long... How can I pretend to be so strong?" -A Walk To Remember

Joy's POV

I run into the hallway blindly, desperate to get to class before the morning bell rang. The door was open slightly, but, to my dismay, nobody was in the actual classroom.

I mutter a whole stream of beautiful French *cough, cough*, and walk towards the principal's office. I knock on the door timidly, still scared of all the teachers because of the kidnapping incident.

"Come in." Mr. Sweet's unmistakable voice says, piercing through the silence.

I walk in slowly, trying to come up with a sentence that would actually sound intelligent.

"Hello, Mr. Sweet. I was just wondering where the class in room 5B was." I say formally.

He gives me a small nod, and looks at the papers with the schedules for the week.

"Ah... Well, Mrs. Hamilton isn't here today, and we didn't schedule for a sub, so you should check the field. I believe everyone in your class is doing P.E. right now." He gestures for me to leave his room oh-so-politely, and returns back to his paperwork, occasionally sighing in frustration.

I run as fast I can with slippery ballerina flats to my locker, and drop off all of my things, grabbing my gym clothes. I change in the bathroom as quickly as possible, drop my clothes off at my locker, and run to the field.

I arrive there out of breath. "I'm *pant* so sorry. *pant* I didn't know where *pant* the class was."

The teacher smiles kindly at me, taking in my out of breath state nicely. "It's fine. We're starting a partner project today, and all I've scheduled for the class to do is to get to know your partner."

"Thank you." I smile, and then ask, confused. "Did you assign the partners?"

She rifles through the stack of papers on her clipboard, looking for the partner pairings. "Yes... You're with- You're Joy, right?- You're with Jerome Clarke."

I give a fake smile, which automatically turns into a grimace when my face was out of her sight.

Just great, I would've been fine with anyone, ANYONE, but I just can't work with Jerome.

I walk slowly towards Jerome, who was currently with Alfie and Willow.

"And she comes at last..." Jerome smirks, ruffling my hair.

I stay silent, giving him a little glare as I fix my hair. It was what I normally do. Whenever I'm with my friends, I act like myself, but whenever I'm with someone I don't know that much, I clam up.

Jerome and I walk to an empty spot on the field, and start talking. It doesn't matter that there was a huge amount of awkward tension, we were still talking.

"So... Um... What do you want to do?" He asks, avoiding my gaze.

"Well, it says we're supposed to get to know each other more, so... Got any questions?" I ask. Like he did to me, I avoided his gaze.

"Please," I can hear the smirk in his voice. "I already know everything about you."

I look at him in shock, saying defensively, "You don't know anything about me."

"Your name is Joy, you don't have any siblings, your have a perfect family, and you're a whiny person. Of course, there's more, but that's just naming the things everyone thinks." He says calmly.

I try to blink tears back. Was that really what everyone thought of me?

"Oh, yeah. Because that's obviously everything about me." I say sarcastically, rolling my eyes, desperate not to let the tears fall. I don't want to give him the satisfaction.

He looks at me, and unreadable expression in his eyes. The bell rings, signaling my freedom. I barely have enough time to run away before my tears start falling.

* * *

_Hi there! :D Again, thank you for taking the time to read my little fanfic. It means a lot to me. Seriously, I'm getting sentimental. Nah, Just Kidding. Really, though, Thank You :D__  
_

_Oh, yeah. And one more thing left to do:_

_Thank you to xx-AlrightHatersFloorsYours-xx for being the first (and only) reviewer. This might sound very creepy- never mind, it is creepy, but I LOVE YOU. See? I'm going all caps on you. No, but seriously. Thanks for making my day with your review._

* * *

_Okay, that's the end of my little rant. _

_Like it? Love it? ...Hate it? :/ Please Review! And thank you. Have a good day/night everyone! _

_And this story is strictly Jeroy. (Jerome and Joy) I won't really focus on the other pairings, but the definite ones are Fabina (Fabian and Nina), and Peddie (Patricia and Eddie). I can't decide whether Alfie should be with Willow or Amber. Or if I should have K.T. And Willow on this fanfic.. Even though I've already added to Willow to this chapter.. What do you guys think?_


	3. Losing It

"Give me time to cope, and time to heal. Time to cry if it's what you feel. Oh, life can hope, when it gets too real. I can hold you up if it's hard to feel." -Rebel Beat

**Disclaimer: I Do NOT Own House Of Anubis**

* * *

Joy's POV

I walk out of school, staying by myself instead of the usual catching-up-with-the-group-as-they-walk-ahead. I shudder, closing my eyes as another memory of how pathetic I am runs through my mind.

I change my course, heading into the forest. I could think of how dangerous this was later. I had to go somewhere to clear my mind- I don't want to blow up in front of everyone.

I don't want to give Jerome the satisfaction.

I stop in front of a river, sitting on one of the flat rocks. I stare at my bag, shrugging.

Might as well do some homework.

I shift my position so that I'm laying on my stomach. I was still on the rocks, my bag hanging off a jagged one , and my homework resting on a flat one that's similar to the one I'm on.

And that's when all hell breaks loose.

Out of nowhere, rain starts to fall from the skies with no warning, and a strong gust of wind appears. I grab my bag, starting to pack up.

My eyes widen as I notice a piece of paper that looks like my chemistry homework floating on the lake.

And like a stupid idiot, I jump in after it.

There were many reasons I categorized myself as a stupid idiot when I dived in. One, there was a storm. Two, the water was not acting nice at all- it threw me around and tried to drown me. And the most important one, Three. I didn't know how to swim.

I hold my breath, closing my eyes as the water pulled me under again. I flail my arms helplessly, trying to swim to the side to get some kind of grip on something.

I grab the stupid paper, shoving it inside my pocket where it would most likely get ruined.

I guess my attempts to save the paper were in vain.

The rain started falling down angrily, and it blinded me almost to the point where I couldn't keep my eyes open.

By some stroke of luck, my hand comes in contact with a rock. Despite my limited knowledge of swimming, I doggie-paddled to that rock as hard as I can.

The heavy backpack was starting to wear me down, but I didn't stop. I held on to the rock as tightly as I could, shuddering as wave after wave of water crashed down on me.

Deep breaths. In. Out. In. Out.

I hoist myself up slowly, wincing as some of the jagged rocks clawed and sliced at my arms and legs.

That's obviously going to leave a mark.

Once I pull myself out of the water, I sit on the ground, coughing violently as my body tried to digest the sudden gallon of river water.

I stare at the river, thankful that I escaped death.

_But even if I did die, nobody would care._

I stand up, trying to find my way back into the school.

_Stupid._

I was so stupid.

After hours of endless searching, I finally open the door to Anubis house, sighing in content as the central heating came in contact with my skin.

They were having dinner.

_Without _me.

They were eating to their heart's content while I could've died. I shake my head sadly, dropping my drenched backpack by the door as I slowly make my way up the stairs.

"Joy, that's gross! Don't get all the water on the floor! I have cleanup duty!" Amber whines, not bothering to ask if I was okay.

I walk inside my bedroom I share with Patricia and Mara, changing out of my clothes and into my comfy pajamas.

I stand up from my bed, walking to the dining room in a zombie-like fashion.

"So she is here!" Patricia exclaims sarcastically.

I flinch. I know Patricia's just joking, but I was fed up with it. Fed up with everything.

I open my mouth to say something to all of them, but no words come out. Instead, I find myself coughing.

I look up like a deer caught in headlights, running as fast as I could (which was sadly not that fast since I was physically drained) and lock myself inside the girl's bathroom.

I was coughing up blood.

_Blood._

And nobody came to see if I was okay or if I needed anything. Call me selfish, but that's all I wanted right now. A friend.

I waited and waited, coughing violently like a bloody idiot while hoping that somebody would come up and ask me if I was okay.

A knock.

I stand up quickly, giving myself a headache. Somebody came. I knew it.

"Joy, how long are you going to be in there? It's almost lights out and we're not ready yet."

And that's when lost it.

* * *

Author's Note: Gasp, an update? I'm sorry, guys. This chapter was hard to write because of my writer's block and my procrastination every time I looked at the blank screen. I just slapped myself and wrote and wrote until this formed.

So, how was it? I know she's probably acting selfish, but I think her reaction was totally justified. I would throw a huge tantrum if I just escaped a near death experience in the storm and nobody came looking for me or actually cared.

And there's also the issue that everyone's acting mean to her. Well, they're all just joking, but the comment Jerome made changed her way of thinking around the words that almost everything said to her is viewed as an insult.

And that's all!

Thank you for sticking with me and I PROMISE the next update won't take months.

Thanks for reading! :)

(This chapter isn't edited.)


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